Ghosts and Other Mysteries
by ilovenascar
Summary: Gibbs & his team go back home after their time on the 'ghost ship'. Jibbs


Fic Title: Ghosts & Other Mysteries 

Name: I Love NASCAR

Fandom: NCIS

Pairing: Jibbs

Feedback: please

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: The only profit I receive from this story is the feedback you provide. All creative rights to the characters belong to DB, not me.

Summary: Gibbs & his time go back home after being on Chimenea.

Jethro Gibbs had been daydreaming for the past hour about another boat ride, the one he and Ducky had taken off the coast of France for a week, ten years before, when a warrant had been sworn for their arrest. He would never forget the memory of Jenny bringing the boat she'd 'commanded' to get them or how that week had been one of the best times of his life. He'd always loved boats, obviously since he continued building them over and over again in his basement, but there was something different about sharing that trip with his two best friends. 

Things hadn't been that good for awhile. Distractions had come up: the mystery of Jenny's father, their people getting hurt, and breaking up with Hollis. While he tried to help, in his own way, with her father, it had still put a strain on their friendship. At least it had until the week before, when he'd gone out on a ledge and almost fallen off. That had definitely opened up lines of communication, he recalled with a fond smile.

He remembered her expression on the satellite earlier. The Commander might not have picked up on it, but he definitely had seen the fear and worry in Jenny's eyes. Something Tony had said on board had made him wonder, despite himself. Two near-misses was one thing, but what happened with the third? It seemed like he'd had two in three weeks, but then again, how many had he had in his lifetime? He was sure it meant nothing.

He viewed the very edge of the land in front of him and turned briefly to look back, only to see all three of his younger agents asleep, McGee on one side, Tony and Ziva on the other, Ziva's head on Tony's shoulder.

"They remind me of someone," Donald Mallard said, standing and moving by Gibbs so they could talk.

He shook his head. "It's different with them." Despite how they acted at times, he and Jenny had loved each other. As far as he was concerned, he still did, one of the primary reasons he'd ended up breaking off his latest relationship.

Ducky nodded. "Well, things seem to be getting back to normal at least."

Gibbs nodded, agreeing. "That's what Jen says." He paused. "I've been thinking about when you pushed that French officer off the cliff."

Ducky smiled. "I told the others that story once, when you came back from Mexico last year. McGee couldn't believe Jenny would steal a boat."

Gibbs glanced at him in surprise. Although, at one time, Jenny and Ducky had been close friends, there had been a gulf between them until Jenny's near breakdown over her father, but even then, Ducky never called her by her name, choosing instead 'director'. "Jenny's done a lot of things they wouldn't believe," he said proudly.

"Aye." He had never really gotten over the effect the bad breakup had on his best friend, although he still didn't know what had happened between them. Still, he had to admire the spunk and tenacity of the redhead and had even started to forgive her for breaking Gibbs' heart, even if he could see them headed back full circle again.

Even Ducky was asleep when they finally made land. Gibbs had elected not to travel back to Anacosta, but to the nearest form of friendly land, not trusting that something else wouldn't happen to him and his people. Still, the people on the dock seemed to recognize them immediately, know why they were there.

"Up," Gibbs commanded, waking his people more gently than he normally would, knowing they'd all been through an ordeal. He was torn between wanting to get back to Washington and finding a place they could all sleep for the night. Although he would never admit it, he was getting tired as well.

His people began to rouse, Tony and Ziva doing that all too familiar jump away from each other. Although the crush that Ziva had developed on Tony seemed to disappear, they still didn't want to admit that they needed each other, in whatever capacity.

"Gibbs?" An officer came up to the ship as they were climbing to the deck, offering a hand to help Ziva which she didn't take. "Commander Nelson."

"Commander." He looked around at his people. "Is there some place where we can recoup? Maybe eat?" He realized that none of them had eaten anything since they'd boarded the ship.

"Yes, sir. You need to accompany us to the base..." Gibbs tuned the slightly younger officer out, his eyes focused on a woman in the distance, watching, that seemed to look so much like Jenny he thought they could be twins. He shook the feeling, not wanting to admit he missed her that much, and turned his attention back to the commander, just in time to hear his last few words. "Back to Washington."

He waited until the commander started to show them where he wanted them to go, Ziva and McGee following first, before asking Ducky, "What did he say?"

"Your hearing getting bad, boss?" Tony said, barely above a whisper, earning him a slap anyway. "What?" He asked in a more audible tone.

"Go," Gibbs barked, turning to Ducky again.

"He's going to show us where to clean up, where to eat, and then we have to be debriefed. Evidently, the director sent a plane for us, so we can sleep there." Gibbs nodded. "Your hearing's not bad." He knew that as well as he knew his own name.

"I thought I saw Jenny." He turned, avoiding the worried look on Ducky's face, not liking where this was heading.

Jenny Shepherd had indeed been on the dock, having to see with her own eyes that everyone was okay. Although she had a lot of people under her command, Gibbs and his team had a special place in her heart. Gibbs had been her partner for years, her lover for part of that, and her best friend ever since. Ziva and Tony were close friends, confidants at times, and Ziva had saved her life on occasion. Even McGee had worked his way into her heart, mostly because of how the others loved him.

"Ma'am." The ex-Marine bodyguard she'd had since her last's death, the one that went almost everywhere with her, spoke up. "Your meeting?" She smiled, nodding, turning from the dock and walking back to the Navy offices, once again ready to be the director.

McGee's cell phone went off after he took his shower, finally able to get the vomit smell off of him. He wasn't surprised when he saw who it was, but still smiled.

"Hey, Abs."

"Hey!" It amazed him how she could remain cheerful and upbeat, despite the hour, when all he wanted to do was crawl into bed. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, we're fine." He looked around, seeing none of the others in earshot. "Abby, I'm really sorry we missed your friend's concert." He knew it wasn't true for Ziva and Tony and, under other circumstances, it wouldn't be for him either, but he didn't like to hurt Abby. He knew the mistake he'd made those years ago and would do anything to correct it, but sometimes there seemed no other way.

"I know." Like him, she was aware that Ziva wasn't and Tony probably wasn't, but she knew McGee was and, for that, she was thankful. "Are you coming back to work tomorrow?"

He groaned inaudibly just at the thought. "Probably. The director sent a plane, so we can come back tonight. Knowing Gibbs, he'll probably have us go directly back at work."

She smiled secretively, as she usually did when she knew something and he didn't. "I doubt it." She corrected herself. "Well, you know, he probably wants to go home for a little while."

"Maybe." He rubbed his head. "You could come over though? We could watch a movie?"

"I'll bring lunch and your present." She looked at the complete BrainMatter collection she'd giftwrapped for him.

"Both are unnecessary, Abs." Lunch still sounded horrible to him after what they'd been through and the only present he needed was her.

"They'll be there." She thought over her schedule. "About noon?" She didn't give him time to respond. "Cool. See ya." She hung up, leaving a smile on his face.

"See ya, Abs," he said into the air.

Tony and Gibbs were debriefed first and, after Ziva and Ducky took their places, Gibbs took a walk, unable to stay still. He followed the sound of muffled shouts, not knowing what he was getting into, but knowing, or at least thinking, that it couldn't be any worse than the last few hours.

"...shot at them, blew them up! Why?"

"I told you, DIRECTOR, that ship is highly classified..."

"And that excuses you almost blowing my people up? Have you lost your mind?"

Even before Gibbs saw Jenny's bodyguard standing outside the room, he knew his sighting of her hadn't been an illusion. He listened to her fight with someone who's voice he didn't entirely recognize, trying to hide a proud smile. When Jenny was mad, she sounded exactly like him, and she was furious now, so much so that he almost expected to hear the sound of a slap to the back of the head.

"The bottom line is that your people are safe. No one was harmed. Isn't that what's important?"

"You got what you wanted. Let them sign that damned piece of paper and let me take them home." Despite herself, she was almost as tired as her people were.

"They're being debriefed. You can take them home when they're through with Agent McVee."

"McGee!" She said, leaving the room, letting the door slam behind her, and almost running into Gibbs, who couldn't quite erase the amused smile from her face.

She looked around, seeing only her bodyguard there. "Can you go check the plane, make sure it's ready to go?" He hesitated, but left when he saw Gibbs nod.

"Damn it, even he listens to you better than he does me," she said quietly, with a slight hint of a smile on her face.

"He's a Marine," Gibbs teased her.

Looking around once again, to make perfectly sure they couldn't be seen, she leaned up to kiss his cheek and hug him. "You're okay?" Her voice was slightly shaky, her eyes worried.

"Yeah, Jen. I'm fine. We all are." He had to fight the urge to leave his arms around her as they moved away from each other and from the office, heading back towards their people.

"When McGee gets debriefed, we can leave." She noticed how tired he looked, little lines of worry for his people still on his face. "There's room for everyone to sleep on the plane and some sandwiches, chips, coffee..." She watched as his eyes lit up and almost laughed.

"You were good in there, director," he said, nearing their people, but wanting him to know how proud he was of her. Although he gave her a hard time when he didn't like one of her decisions or when he missed them being partners, even he had to admit how much she'd accomplished, the first female director as well as one of the youngest.

"I had a good boss," she used the term Tony always referred to him as, having long ago given up trying to fight it. Gibbs would always be 'boss', she would always be 'Jenny', but at least she'd gotten acceptance, which was hard enough to do.

When McGee was debriefed, they boarded the plane, McGee and Ducky immediately heading for sleep, Ziva finally settling down to eat but falling asleep soon after, Tony grabbing a sandwich and chips then disappearing, presumably to sleep as well. Jenny's bodyguard went to the front of the plane, Jenny settled down on the couch, and Gibbs retrieving two cups of coffee. As he came back into the room, he saw her as he hadn't in awhile, as the green, stubborn, beautiful, young agent he'd been partnered with, in charge of protecting, instead of the overworked, stressed, worried director she'd become. Knowing everyone else was in another part of the plane, he leaned over and kissed her on the lips.

Instead of scolding him about being at work, she kissed him back and smiled. "Coffee."

He laughed quietly, sitting down beside her. "You know neither one of us is going to be able to sleep after we drink this."

"Isn't that kinda the point?" She teased.

He smiled, the mischievous boyish smile she loved so much. "Kinda."

She settled down to him, as close as she could get, still able to break apart if someone came in. "How are they, Jethro? Really?"

"Ziva believes in ghosts." She nodded, already knowing that. "I gave McGee some sickness pills, but they didn't work. Spent most of the time throwing up. He was the one that opened the biohazard room though." He didn't tell her about the warhead and she knew better than to ask. "I'm worried about Tony."

"He's gotten better. He doesn't seem as lonely anymore and I think he's forgiven me." Although she meant what she'd said about there being no possible way he could have ended up with Jeanne, she still felt responsible, for Tony being hurt and for him almost dying.

"Not about the girl." He paused. "He convinced himself he was dying. He's been scared of rats anyway, since the plague." She nodded, having heard about the stories, although she hadn't worked in Washington then. "And with this tonight..." It was the first time in a long time he'd felt Kate's absence this keenly, knowing that she would have known what to do to help him. While Ziva was a good partner, Kate had possessed a sixth sense about all of them, especially Tony.

"Do you think he should see a counselor?" Gibbs made a face. "Stop it. They're not all bad."

"He doesn't need a shrink. He just got scared. He thinks there's a baseball mentality to death." She looked at him. "You know, three strikes, you're out?"

"God, if that was true, we'd both be in trouble." She smiled slightly, although the thought of what another coma would do to Gibbs was never far from her mind.

"Were you really going to tell me what was happening on that ship?" His mind flashed back to one of the satellite conferences.

"They're my agents too, Jethro. The last thing I would ever want to do would be to put any of you in danger." They ended up there enough all by themselves.

"Yeah, but you could have lost your job." He knew how important her job was to her, how much work she'd put into getting there.

"I weighed my options." She doubted very seriously anyone would have said anything, knowing she had ammunition on the only person involved who wasn't one of her agents.

"Still..." His eyes fluttered closed and then back open.

"Why don't you get some sleep? We've still got a few more hours until we make Washington."

He shook his head. "I've gotta stay up."

"Why? If McGee gets sick again, if Tony or Ziva need us, then I'll either help them or wake you. And you know Ducky'll be okay." He hesitated, but nodded, trusting her with their people. "Okay." She moved to one of the chairs so that he could stretch out on the couch, wishing she could lay down next to him, but knowing that if they didn't wake up and someone came in, it would be too big a risk.

He watched her try to get comfortable enough to sleep in the chair, finally just sitting up and tucking her legs under her as Kelly used to call 'Indian style'. The last thing he wanted was this gulf between them. Some of the best nights of sleep he got anymore were when his arms were around her, but realized it wasn't a good idea. They'd gotten away with a lot on this trip; he didn't want to push his luck.

"You know what I was thinking about, coming back from the ship?" He asked, both almost asleep.

"Hmm?"

"You stealing that boat and coming to get Ducky and me." He smiled at the picture in his head that had reemerged.

"Shoulda left Ducky..." She muttered, almost asleep, not really meaning it, although the Scotsman hadn't exactly made her life as director easier.

He smiled, knowing what she meant. "Not me?"

"Catch me tomorrow..." It really was a new situation every day with them, every minute in fact. Sometimes she could be so mad at him and then others, like now, she wished they were partners again. He smiled, but couldn't think of a comeback before they both fell to sleep.


End file.
